The Carolina Panthers hired Dave Canales as head coach to help develop Bryce Young into a franchise quarterback and turn the team around, as they hadn’t made the playoffs since 2017.
Canales, a young and rising coach in the NFL, had only one season as a coordinator and no experience as a head coach before joining Carolina. However, he gained recognition for helping quarterbacks Geno Smith in Seattle and Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay revive their careers.
So far, the results have been mixed with his latest project.
Young struggled in his first two games under Canales, with Carolina losing both games by a combined score of 73-13. This led Canales to bench the 2023 No. 1 overall pick before Week 3. He said at the time that 37-year-old Andy Dalton “gives the team the best chance to win” and had no plans to go back to Young.
Canales has stuck to that decision. However, when Dalton injured his right thumb in a car accident, Canales had no choice but to give Young another chance. Since then, Young’s performance has improved.
He has won two straight starts going into the bye week, though both wins came against struggling teams in New Orleans and the New York Giants.
In his last three games, Young has completed 55 of 88 passes for 521 yards, with four touchdowns and three interceptions. This is much better than his first two games, where he completed 31 of 56 passes for just 225 yards, with three interceptions and no touchdowns.
Young has shown better control of the huddle, made smarter decisions, and appears more confident.
Canales said that Young “made a statement” after leading the Panthers to a 20-17 overtime victory over the Giants in Germany on Sunday.
“I’m just so proud of Bryce,” Canales said. “I’m so proud of (him) taking the next step again. He had a great day. It could have been a fantastic day. I thought a few balls got away from us. A couple of times that would have really turned it into really an exceptional day, but he handled the rush, he handled the different coverage looks and all that.”
Still, Canales has not publicly committed to Young as the starter for the Panthers’ next game against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 24.
Young, who is known for giving cliché answers, avoided discussing his own growth.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity and for me, just the ability to know on offense I have 10 other guys that I know are going to do their job, I know are going to compete that I’m grateful to go to war with,” he said. “And the defense being the same, having all the faith in the world in them. Not saying that’s different, but it’s just great, us growing in that together.”
Despite the team’s first two-game winning streak since 2022, the Panthers still have much to assess in the final seven games of the season.
Young is still just 4-17 as an NFL starter, and with a likely top 10 draft pick, the Panthers may still consider selecting another quarterback in the 2025 draft.
For now, the Panthers hope Young continues to develop. Even though they received calls from other teams about trading for Young at the NFL trade deadline, they rejected those offers. Canales has said Young needs more experience, which makes his hesitation to name him the permanent starter even more confusing.
“We’ll take all the information; we’ll do all that,” Canales said. “But Bryce certainly is making a statement to all of us. So I just can’t tell you how proud I am of just weekly progress. And that’s the goal for all of us.”
